Rewarding and Praising Your Dog

This doesn't seem like something that would be that much of an issue, but the little things can turn into the big things.

First, you need to make sure that you know what really gets your dog going. Is your dog toy motivated? Food motivated? How is his ball drive or frisbee drive? What can you give your dog that tells him "I'm so proud of you and you did exactly what I asked, he's your favorite most favorite of things because you listened". With my puppy, it's Busy Bones.

(A note on Busy Bones--be careful. The ones that say they're for large dogs are great for occupying my puppy, but I only let her chew maybe half an inch. Even for dogs over a year old, it could be too much. And they'll eat the whole thing, which will make them throw up. Just be mindful lol.)

So now that you have your reward and praise item, you have to know when to give it to them. You should not just give your dog the treat because you think your dog is cute or a princess. Your dog needs to work for it. You need to be able to get them to listen to you and respect you, and in doing that, never give them anything for free. Nothing in life is free and nothing should be.

Do a little training session. Ask for a series of sits, downs, stays, heels, barks, shakes, high fives, kisses, whatever you can think of. Or maybe take your dog on a good jog or run, and get them to sit every little while. Or if you've got an agility dog or a protection dog, run through their routines.

Another good thing is spending the time to teach them something they don't know. It's imperative for your dog to learn things like stay, come, it's name, kennel, etc. So you can spend a good 20 minutes solidifying something new, and then reward them.

The key is to have the right reward, and make them work for it. Then they will respect you, see you as their alpha, know that good things come from listening, and you're dog will be happy knowing that not only did they please you, they got a treat out of it too!